1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for bonding an additional layer of fabric to the cut edges of a label for application to clothing, linens, towels, and other goods, and more particularly to a label having an additional layer of fabric with printed or woven information bonded thereto produced by the apparatus and method of the invention.
2. Description of the Related Art
The attachment of labels to cloth goods such as clothing, linens and towels is a common practice used to set forth information such as trademarks and trade names, material identification and characteristics, sizes, care instructions, and so forth. In addition, legal requirements necessitate the use of labels in clothing or on linens. A method and apparatus for producing individual folded labels from a ribbon of labels is presented in published PCT application WO 00/50239 and is incorporated in its entirety herein.
Folded labels are commonly used in the industry and come in a number of different forms including endfolds, centerfolds, J folds, Booklet fold, Manhattan-folds, and mitrefold labels. While each of these different forms has a particular use, the centerfold and end-fold labels are the most popular.
In addition to providing this important information, the label is part of the object. Unfortunately, it is not unusual for a label, especially a skin contact clothing label, to irritate the customer. This can result in the customer forming a negative attitude regarding the quality of the entire garment. Quite often the customer will cut the offending label out of the garment. This not only prevents the customer from having the proper care instructions, it also removes the product identification from the garment, further reducing repeat sales.
Currently most folded labels are produced using what is referred to in the industry as the “cut and fold” technique, that is the labels are indexed, cut from a ribbon of material and then folded. Using this technique about 40–220 labels can be produced a minute with between 5–20% of the labels being considered waste or defective. The most common defect being a distorted fold resulting in the ends of the label not aligning properly. Other defects include turned corners, fanning, and protruding fold-unders.
Defective labels can significantly increase the cost of the goods. For example, while it costs only about fifteen to twenty-five cents to sew a label into a garment in the United States, it can cost five to ten times this amount to replace a defective label. Many labels, especially centerfold, have a tendency to skew while being sewed, thereby increasing the chance for a poor impression.
In many cases of using labeling on a garment, there are variable pieces of information which may be needed, differing from garment to garment. These bits of multiple information can be presented on a single label, causing the need for small runs in production, which raises production costs. Multiple labels for size and special instructions can also be used. This too adds to production costs because sewing time for the garment manufacturers is increased.
It would be desirable to produce large productions runs of a main label and include additional variable pieces of information on a smaller piece of fabric attachable to the main label at the point of label processing.